Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:56     Subject: Re:A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:If you’re going to place ECNL in a tier below MLSN for the boys you really should do the same to GA on the girls side. By any objective measure ECNL is the better league on the girls side. Just like MLSN:HG is better than ECNL for the boys.


Was only a matter of time until this gem popped up
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:50     Subject: Re:A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:---->>>>>
Anonymous wrote:If you’re going to place ECNL in a tier below MLSN for the boys you really should do the same to GA on the girls side. By any objective measure ECNL is the better league on the girls side. Just like MLSN:HG is better than ECNL for the boys.


See how the insanity begins?


It’s not insanity and it’s not up for debate.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 12:11     Subject: Re:A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
---->>>>>
Anonymous wrote:If you’re going to place ECNL in a tier below MLSN for the boys you really should do the same to GA on the girls side. By any objective measure ECNL is the better league on the girls side. Just like MLSN:HG is better than ECNL for the boys.


See how the insanity begins?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:25     Subject: Re:A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
If you’re going to place ECNL in a tier below MLSN for the boys you really should do the same to GA on the girls side. By any objective measure ECNL is the better league on the girls side. Just like MLSN:HG is better than ECNL for the boys.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:22     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
AND to make it more fun, once you get to high school, Virgina and points south league games are played games in the fall while DC/MD league games are played in the spring because of opposite calendars for high school soccer.

So then you need to consider how that all works for your kid and school schedule.

It's truly insane.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:19     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I didn't see this in the pinned thread - what are all of the acronyms?

RL -->ECNL RL
MLS -->Major League Soccer
GA -->Girls Academy
ENCL --Elite Clubs National League
NCSL -->National Capital Soccer League


Obviously I can figure out what certain ones stand for - google can tell me that ENCL is Elite Club National League - but what does it MEAN to be ENCL v. NCSL, etc.


Oh boy. This is a big topic!

Tier 1 Boys League: U13-U19
MLSNext
MLSNext Academy
Tier 2 Boys League: U13-U19
ECNL

Tier 1 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL & GA
Tier 2 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL RL & GA Aspire

For U9-U12
Teams play in multiple leagues, with the biggest centralized one being NCSL

For U13-U19
Teams still play in NCSL and multiple other leagues, but their Tiered 1 & 2 teams peel off to only play on the top Tier leagues mentioned above.

NCSL Is a local league to the DMV

Tier 1 & Tier 2 are both regional and national level leagues
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:19     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I didn't see this in the pinned thread - what are all of the acronyms?

RL -->ECNL RL
MLS -->Major League Soccer
GA -->Girls Academy
ENCL --Elite Clubs National League
NCSL -->National Capital Soccer League


Obviously I can figure out what certain ones stand for - google can tell me that ENCL is Elite Club National League - but what does it MEAN to be ENCL v. NCSL, etc.


Oh boy. This is a big topic!

Tier 1 Boys League: U13-U19
MLS
Tier 2 Boys League: U13-U19
ECNL

Tier 1 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL & GA
Tier 2 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL RL & GA Aspire

For U9-U12
Teams play in multiple leagues, with the biggest centralized one being NCSL

For U13-U19
Teams still play in NCSL and multiple other leagues, but their Tiered 1 & 2 teams peel off to only play on the top Tier leagues mentioned above.

NCSL Is a local league to the DMV

Tier 1 & Tier 2 are both regional and national level leagues

Also, now there's NAL???
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:15     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:I didn't see this in the pinned thread - what are all of the acronyms?

RL -->ECNL RL
MLS -->Major League Soccer
GA -->Girls Academy
ENCL --Elite Clubs National League
NCSL -->National Capital Soccer League


Obviously I can figure out what certain ones stand for - google can tell me that ENCL is Elite Club National League - but what does it MEAN to be ENCL v. NCSL, etc.


Oh boy. This is a big topic!

Tier 1 Boys League: U13-U19
MLS
Tier 2 Boys League: U13-U19
ECNL

Tier 1 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL & GA
Tier 2 Girls League: U13-U19
ECNL RL & GA Aspire

For U9-U12
Teams play in multiple leagues, with the biggest centralized one being NCSL

For U13-U19
Teams still play in NCSL and multiple other leagues, but their Tiered 1 & 2 teams peel off to only play on the top Tier leagues mentioned above.

NCSL Is a local league to the DMV

Tier 1 & Tier 2 are both regional and national level leagues
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:08     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
OP, if you read this forum, there's a lot of jockeying and chest puffing about which league is better than the next. You can see how this happens once you appreciate the insanity of the whole thing.

But if your kid is on a nice team with kids they like and a coach that seems to be doing the right thing, don't stress yourself out about it.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:06     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Making it more confusing is that there are multiple governing bodies (who issue the cards) for these leagues. This matters because your kid can play on multiple teams (or guest play occasionally) if the governing bodies are different, but not if they are the same.

Doing your taxes is easier than navigating this stuff.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:04     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Many leagues have different levels.

ECNL top/ ECRL second league
GA top /GA Aspire second league
Etx.

Some have multiple levels to suit a wider range of teams.

USYS Has one or two top brackets, then moves down to EDP with a whole bunch more.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 11:00     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These are different leagues for soccer. So all the teams in X league play each other in regular play and then in some tournaments.

That's different that broader tournaments where everyone plays everyone.


These are ALL different leagues? Wow. And I assume some are better than others? Does each club belong to one league?


Yes, which is what makes soccer in this area frustrating. You wind up driving 2 hours for a league game....and passing by the fields of 30 clubs along the way.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 10:56     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
Anonymous wrote:These are different leagues for soccer. So all the teams in X league play each other in regular play and then in some tournaments.

That's different that broader tournaments where everyone plays everyone.


These are ALL different leagues? Wow. And I assume some are better than others? Does each club belong to one league?
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 10:54     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
These are different leagues for soccer. So all the teams in X league play each other in regular play and then in some tournaments.

That's different that broader tournaments where everyone plays everyone.
Anonymous
Post 04/13/2026 10:51     Subject: A Travel Soccer for Dummies glossery
I didn't see this in the pinned thread - what are all of the acronyms?

RL
MLS
GA
ENCL
NCSL


Obviously I can figure out what certain ones stand for - google can tell me that ENCL is Elite Club National League - but what does it MEAN to be ENCL v. NCSL, etc.